| CD REVIEW TSM/SLW Promotions special Nov. 2010, part 1 : Bad Things – Dark Synergy – Drive Faster – E.Z. Riders – Fright Night – Ray Gilman - Surefire |
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Seven bands in one special? Seems like a lot, doesn't it, but there's a good reason for this overkill. You see, after a tremendously catch-up season during Summer, I finally found time to finish working on the last October special, so the editor-in-chief could write Two Side Moon's Nicky AOR to go ahead and tell his clients that we were ready for another batch to review. Now although I was present when The Chief sent though the multiple requests, I never expected us to get such a huge return response. Material was being sent within the week, and in less than two weeks time there were 15 albums to be processed! As per usual, the stuff comes from all over the globe, and in several genres: Bad Things (from Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA) plays a Heavy Southern tinged Rock, Dark Synergy (Sydney, Australia) plays what they call Cyber Goth (even if no synths are used, as one would expect), Drive Faster (Toronto, Ottawa, Canada) plays a danceable Indie Pop, E.Z. Riders (from Italy) continue their exploration of the laid-back type of Blues Rock of the early '70s, Fright Night (Moscow, Russia) brings us a unique vocally styled Goth Metal with Dark Wave elements, Ray Gilman (Twin cities area, Minnesota, USA) brings us more conventional Classic Rock, and Surefire (Brooklyn, New York, USA) pleasures its fans with a nice Indie Rock (this band's promo package was somehow laid a-lost at Concrete Web's headquarters, and recently found, so that's why I broke the alphabetical order to include it here). Check out the band's profiles at your leisure. --------------------------------------------------- This Tulsa, Oklahoma based quartet was founded in 2005 by guitarist Don Sloan, whom got tired of cruisin’ in the classic Metal and Rock covers scene he was in before and was looking out to start making his own music for a change. In the beginning however, things didn't get along that well, and it wasn't until drummer Kelly Endsley (who'd played with Hellablack and 13 West) joined that things actually got movin' in the songwriting department. The resulting 5-track demo then got airplay on the Homegrown radio show and also saw the band being featured in podcasts from iRock radio. In early 2008 the guys secluded themselves in a studio to record demos of reworked existing and new songs. During Summer original bassist Stev Langdon decided to leave the band because they'd musically gone to different direction than they were used to, but on good terms nevertheless (in fact, some of the band members were still in a covers band with him). To replace him on a couple of shows, the guys called in the help of old friend Harvey Jackson (who'd been a tandem with Endsley before, counting both Hellablack and 13 West to his antecedents), and only after a couple of rehearsals he was in as permanent new member. Next one to go was lead singer Chris Atherton, making his final appearance with the band during a show in October. Knowing they could never find anyone as good as him, and to prevent goin' out on a time-consuming search, Sloan and Jackson decided to share lead vocals among themselves in the future. Something which took some time to get used to, as the first had only once done some backing singing while playing the guitar, and the second had never done any lead singing. Still, they managed to make things work, making progress with each rehearsal and live appearance. However, the guys felt hey still missed something to make their music sound even better, so they began searching for a second guitarist with some backing singer experience as well. One of Endsley's guitarist friends then introduced 'em to Donnie Creitz, whome was very swift in working himself into the band's music, and adding his and Jackson's experiences to the whole has again slightly changed the songs. So, evidently, those had to be demoed again...demo recordings which eventually resulted in the band's debut full-length release! So what's it all sound like? The band members start of citing their influences with some heavier bands including Judas Priest, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Rhino Bucket, Junkyard, Overkill, Airbourne, Black Label Society, Bullet For My Valentine, Trivium, Shadows Fall, Clutch, Down, before stepping down a notch towards their style with Wednesday 13, Alice Cooper, Jimi Hendrix, Dokken, Iron Maiden, Ronnie James Dio, Ozzy Osbourne, Iced Earth, Hammerfall. Best however, to describe the music as a drawing from both classic British Rock, and Blues Rock, with frequent Metal seasoning and the occasional extra Southern Rock spicing. Now I have to say that, sóme of the songs don't come across that well, and as far as I can ascertain those are the one the band wrote in more recent days (in the blogs at myspace.com/badthings, the band mentions reworking songs as they go through their line-up changes, adding niceties along the way...but apparently they haven't had tie to go through the complete album's catalogue). Meaning there's a couple of songs which are hampered with an all too simple structure. Although their voices are quite similar, the singers are different in that one has an ever-so-slightly higher pitch, and I suggest that in a couple of cases the guys also picked the wrong guy to do the lead singing, the fluency of the song being hampered by a somewhat “hesitant” vocalist (worst example?...check “Better Than You”). Regretfully, I haven't had time to check the 4-some of live videos posted on the band's own website (www.) badthingsrocks.com to find out who's the singer with the graver voice (although suggestion goes it's the bassist). Mind you, in other instances (calmer tracks, those with the Southern Rock influence coming through most) his voice is just what the song needs. Love the shared lead the guys do during “Killin Time”...maybe that's something they oughta do more? Also love the small little additions on the overall calmer “Numb” (extra tube-guitar) and the ensuing ballad “Flame Burns Out” (with addition of flute, acoustic and slide guitar it is indeed – as mentioned in a review in Home Of Rock – kinda reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd)! To find out whether you like or not, it suffices for you to check out the songs posted at the band's MySpace or/ and the (live) videos on their own website! Personally, I feel there's still space for improvement (allow the songs to grow, or get the input of the whole band), but for their debut full-length, this ain't bad at all! 83/100 ---------------------------------------------------- Based in Sydney and Adelaide, Australia, Dark Synergy is a recording project between guitarist/ songwriter Col Brown, and singer Nellie Mokbel. Born in Liverpool (UK), Brown was raised in Sydney. Having been previously impressed by such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, Black Sabbath, and David Bowie, it was a chance meeting with Eric Clapton after a Sydney concert that inspired him to finally pick up and teach himself the guitar at the age of 20. Meantime, he still pursued his studies in Mining Engineering, and after having graduated with honors started to concentrate on music completely. Writing and refining his music for several years now, Brown developed a unique style of songwriting and production, and has enough material to fill 3 decently filled CDs with demo recordings. He was able to perform quite regularly with Adelaide based covers band The Scam (who've gotten plenty of promotion on the Triple M radio network and opened for Appetite For Destruction (a Guns 'N' Roses tribute show) to a packed capacity house at Adelaide's The Venue. Growing up in Sydney, Nellie Mokbel has had a passion for music from her very earliest age, which led her to join the school choir and participate in solo church performances at age 12. Obviously, she chose music studies in high school, where she was instantly picked to front the high school band. Soon after, she perfected her vocal skills through professional vocal training, and pursued an interest in song writing, which has resulted in two demos recorded in 2000 and 2003. Among her influences, Mikbel cites the likes of Natalie Imbruglia, Justin Hawkins, Gwen Stefani, Dale Bozzio, and Tarja Turunen. In 2007 she was invited by Brown for an audition for lead singer. Impressed by her vocal capacities and her genuine passion for his music, the only natural choice for Brown was to make Mokbel his lead singer. Named after a song Brown wrote in 2006, the band's music is described (in the promo package's info sheet) as, “Dark Synergy expands the limits of Rock by blending both Metal and Heavy Rock as well as Goth and sci-fi influences into a unique style, described by Col as “Cyber-Goth”...”. What we hear is two semi-acoustic songs (“You Are The Killer” and “Altered State”) in which the electric guitar certainly has a style of its own, soundwise. Third song “No Illusions” is heavy through-out, and perhaps shows the “sci-fi” influences in the soaring guitar solo play best. Throughout àll songs Bokbel's vocals remain delicate yet passionate and soulful. Definitely the “icing on the cake”, as the saying goes! Recorded with drummer Simone White (formerly of Michael Franti, now with Disposable Heroes Of Hip Hoprisy) and bassist Stuart J. Spaas (plays on both fretless and standard instruments), the material on the 3-track demo was carefully arranged, played and produced, and since its release in June 2009 brought forth reactions from fans and media both nationally and internationally. For instance, the title track was in rotation on radarradio.com.au's Top 50 for 4 months, and won Ugly Phil's unsigned band competition (competition works on the amount of fans calling in) on Triple M FM on December 2nd, 2009. Both the title track and “No Illusions” have been played on Internet radio stations in the US, and the latter was included on the American Gothic compilation CD The Funeral Vol. 4. In the meantime, the two are working slowly towards a full-length release...well, they've posted 2 new songs at myspace.com/darksynergy (where you can also find this demo's tracks, as well as the “Dark Synergy” demo), and are actually working towards the late November release of new single Frozen In Time at the moment. Hope they think of us, and this time (hahah, keep laughin'!) nót a year after the facts! In other words, I'm really intrigued as to where this project is goin'. Brown mentions he's also working on getting the “band” out there for its first gigs, so all of you out there in Sydney, keep your eyes open! 88/100 ---------------------------------------------------- Although Frame Of Mind is Drive Faster's debut outing, things for this now Toronto (Ontario) based Canadian band started quite some time ago, with three members playing together since high school in Calgary, Alberta. The defining moment for the formation of the band was when frontwoman Angela Saini and a high school friend witnessed a free show at the Calgary Stampede, and decided it would be fun to start collaborating to try and play on that same stage. Several line-up and band name changes later, Supernal did exactly that! Through the strength of 4 EPs, the band then played stages throughout Eastern Canada (eventually also opening for Angels And Airwaves and Sum 41), relocated to Toronto, and were getting more and more positive reviews and airplay on over 300 college and commercial radio stations along the line. In 2008 the band was even nominated for a Toronto Independent Music Award in the category “Best Alternative Rock”. But in early 2009 Angela traded in her guitar for a Korg synthesizer (it's my guess that the 2008 return of original drummer Michael Holbrook – whom played with How Do You Do in between – and the recruitment of new bassist Jon Marck changed the internal balance to the point of awakening a latent desire in the two remaining members for a change in musical direction), and as with the addition of that instrument came a looked-for change to the band's sound, they decided to re-name themselves to Drive Faster. After having presented demos (recorded at their new rehearsal space) of some of their reworked old songs through their Myspace page, Drive Faster debuted its new sound on stage at the Canadian Music Week in March 2009. Soon after, the band was set to appear in an episode of Master Tracks on Aux TV, where producers Moe Berg (Pursuit Of Happiness, The Cliks) and Lawrence Currie (Sloan, Wintersleep) recorded a version of he band's “Analog”, a process which Berg described wit the words: “The vocalist is just so outstanding, you almost get a rush when you are recording someone like that!”. The session went só well, the producers decided to hold back its airing until the Fall of 2009, when Aux TV would be their own channel. At the same moment “Analog” would be made available for free download on the Aux TV site. Meanwhile Drive Faster decided to scratch the idea of adapting their old songs to their new style, and start all over from scratch, writing a batch of completely new material. After two months of writing and demo recordings, the band had a batch of 14 songs, which they then put through a process of elimination to allow the best songs to be left over for a decent recording session, coming up with 5 songs with a common thread and vibe. Then they went into picking the right hard and software to record with, and went about looking for the warmest (sound) accommodation of their rehearsal space, in the meantime still going over their newly selected songs, adding bits and pieces where necessary, listening back to things in order to make sure that they liked what they were doin' (remember that the band was geared towards guitars before, and now wanted to include those synth sounds). Eventually, the process brought life to 8 recorded songs, which are now here presented. Well...let's put the record straight right from the beginning: closing track “Raindrop” (a last-minute addition) is a great acoustic ballad version of album opener “Before I Dry”,with a lone acoustic guitar accompanying Angela's truly great singing in a song that's vocally arranged quite differently from the original one. Also bassist Jon Marck was only with the band for a transitory period, contributing his skills on only 4 of the 7 songs (remember the last one is only a vocal-acoustic guitar thing). The three other songs were performed by one Sean Dillman, and in the current line-up we find a Jeff Scale thumpin' the bass! The non-acoustic songs (all of the album bar the closing track) displays a variety of simple, wacky, but effective synth sounds with the guitars (courtesy of guitarist Tony Gare) floundering in between with catchy melodies, the two occasionally doin' “battle” with each other. Angela has a nice steady voice with great flexibility (something amply proven by her performance during aforementioned ballad). Put it all together and you've got a recipe for success, as predicted by the aforementioned Moe Berg. The common thread? Well, a couple of the songs (what's “Suitcase” about?, “Ripping Out The Pages” is definitely about re-writing a recent past as the victor, “Thinking Of You” is about trying to put the past behind you, definitely seem to have to do with a bad separation Angela went through, the others (both the opening and closing tracks, plus “Frame Of Mind” and “All In Good Time”) with having turned the page. But those are things the listener doesn't uncover until (s)he sets his/her teeth in the lyrics, because somehow the band succeeded in giving their songs an uplifting mood! Obviously, this gives the listener a good feeling, and with the dance content of the songs, maybe even the need to move his/her feet into a rhythmic way (say dance) while listening to the 29 ½ minute album. Real NICE stuff! Skeptic? Check out the songs and videos posted at (www.) myspace.com/drivefasterband, then also the videos posted under “Media” on the band's own website (www.) drivefasterband.com (enjoy the webisode shorties recorded during recording). 90/100 ---------------------------------------------------- I reviewed this Italian band's 2008 debut album Experienced Zydeco Riders in a special posted 04/03/2009, and have to say I wasn't overly enthoused with it. Maybe the relatively short time between being formed and recording their album had made the trio a bit too confident about their material? At any rate, the band's sophomore album is truly a positive surprise to me, and I'm glad the guys still found it in their hearts to send us their new material, in spite of my less flattering comments (the more positive they used on their MySpace page – also their official website) about their debut. This time around, the guys took their time writing their music (were already on it when I reviewed the debut) and that's something which shows itself in nicely structured songs (which are still open for occasional improvisations) which now also have a same musical direction. Think Allman Brothers Band,...nah, I was looking to add a list of bands, but ABB will suffice nicely, thank you...in other words, a calmer type of Southern tinged Blues Rock with great lead guitar parts. I mean, the guys even play a couple of longer songs. But right-off, the guitar section is where I foresee a problem, as the band can never be expected to play this music as a trio (it needs an extra rhythm guitarist, see?). Still, those are problems that can be solved by occasionally playing with a hired hand (no need to change the internal dynamics of the band as far as the songwriting goes, see?). To embellish a couple of songs (“What's It Worth”, “Let Me Be Your Man”, and “Dust In The Wind”) the trio invited one Carlo De Signoribus to play the harp (say mouth harmonica), which even resulted in a memorable “battle” between him and the guitarist (during “Let Me Be your Man”). Vocally, the calmer style suits frontman Alessandro far better. Of course there's still a rare couple of moments when he shows his native lineage, but not in the same measure as on the debut...and therefore the new album is a vast improvement overall! To convince you of that fact, all you need do is compare the songs (4 of the debut, and no less than 6 of the 9 on the new one – must be the band understood the higher quality of their new material too, eh?) posted at (www.) myspace.com/ezridersband. Great stuff, and anyone into the more atmospheric Blues Rock of the early '70s should definitely check this out! 88/100 ---------------------------------------------------- This Moscow based Russian outfit was founded in 2005 by guitarist/ second & backing singer Marianna Lukjanova, whom originally founded her project towards a rather heavy Gothic Metal with a vocal contrast between deep male and more emotional & doleful female singing. Then, as the keyboards became more prominent in the band's music, the overall sound became more complex and melodic, with strong Dark Wave elements...and it's with that style that the band debuted on the Moscow club circuit in November of 2006. In 2007 Fight Night issued its first release with the 4-track Inspired, comprised of 3 of the band's own songs (the duet song “The Letter Of The End”, the male solo spoken-wordish “Black”, and “The Cross And The Pyre”, another male-female duet) and a cover of Uriah Heep's “Rainbow Demon” (again conceived as a male-female duet in a very keyboard dominated and rather guitar-less Dark Wave version), all of which also would also turn up on this, the band's debut full-length. Though never stopping the band from playing gigs the line-up then went through a couple of changes, resulting in the current one consisting of original members Alexey “Ergil” Ovsiyenko (male vocals), Vadim “Lars” Mironov (drums) and Angela (her nickname bein' “Winter”), completed with keyboardist Irina “Weena Morlock” Lebedenko and bassist Nikolay Shevelev in 2008. The line-up didn't change since, as the members found a common wish to further the band in a friendly atmosphere. Since then, the band played supports to the likes of To Die For, Theatre Des Vampires, Das Ich, The Last Days Of Jesus, and participated in such international festivals as Deti Nochi: Chorna Rada 5 and Radio Inferno. In all honesty, when I first listened to the album's opening track “His Death” (which happened before I had a chance to look into the info included in the promo package), the first though that went through my mind was, “What the blazes...whom do these guys think they're kidding, “singing” like that?”! You see, although neither of the singers actually goes off-key, they also cannot actually properly sing...at first I even confused Marianna's vocal contribution to the song with an unmentioned second male singer. Quickly browsing through the album's 9 other songs only filled me with a foreboding of the rest of the vocals being of the same kind...and it wasn't until I decided to run the CD a couple of times in succession while reading a good book (in between also goin' over the info I had gathered on the band), that it dawned on me that the band meant their vocal soundscape to be like this on purpose and are as such to be looked upon as a possible awkward, yet unique band. I also discovered the nice musical complexity of the music which, depending on a song's needs, sees the guitar goin' for a combination of semi-acoustic and heavy in some songs (check “His Death”, “The Letter Of The End”, “We Will Go”, “Rainbow Demon”, “The Cross And The Pyre”, and “Black” - in other words, móst of the album), just heavy (“The Blood”), completely semi-acoustic in others (“Two Roses”, the spoken wordwith, for a change, nice female sung backings – credit where credit is due - “Christopher Lee”) or virtually non-existent in yet others (check Marianna's vocal solo with piano accompaniment “The Summon” - during which, I am afraid to contradict my earlier words, she indeed occasionally goes off-key). And as you will be able to assertain for yourselves by checking out myspace.com/frightnightband, where the band posted 4 of their songs. Since the release of the album things have been looking up for the band, their album first getting a distribution deal in Russia, then getting positive reviews on websites outside Russia. Eventually (after also reviewing the album) UK's Ravenheart Music offered to distribute the album (besides the territories mentioned, the label/ distro also works with a US distribution hub)...which will certainly help with getting the alum to all you fans of Gothic Metal with Dark Wave elements (a description the band itself does not like due to the stylistic constriction that goes with being categorised. As influences they cite Lacrimosa, Ghosting, Dreadful Shadows, Die Laughing, Scream Silence, Led Zeppelin, The Smashing Pumpkins, soundtracks, horror films, Arthus Machen, and leave the rest open with “...”. If you would ask 'em to describe themselves, they would answer (sic) “As if Lacrimosa and Skeletal Family met and jammed together... Kiddin', in fact all of it is much more harmonious...and more depressive than both!”...and while I concur with most of that, I would have to disagree nevertheless when speaking about the vocals! The latest news from the band is that they've finished work on a video for “The Blood” (audio already available). 81/100 ---------------------------------------------------- Although to many of you Ray Gilman may be a new name in the Rock scene, the multi-instrumental artist is really a veteran of the Twin Cities area in Minnesota (for people nót familiar with the terminology: cities meant are Minneapolis and St. Paul) who's recorded and released 8 prior records, played over a 1,000 shows, and recorded CDs for several other artists in his own recording studio. On stage, Ray performs with his own band Gilman's Crossing [consisting of second guitarist/ backing singer Pat Swedzinski (who's performed as solo artist, with Ray in the band TMPR, as well as in other Twin Cities bands. Pat and Ray also perform as a duo) , drummer Brian Sherry (started banging on empty ice buckets at the age of 9, recorded his first album at the age of 18 with the band Tkail, and went on to play with Paradise, Boys, White Raven, the Fanatics, as well as being a member of Paragon for 10 years. Having opened shows with his band for such renowned bands as Blue Oyster Cult, Pat Travers, Rick Derringer, Molly Hatchet, Warrant, Jeckyl, Foghat, and plenty of others, he also did fill-in work for Unce Chunk and Tracy Blake), and bassist...I'm not sure who's got that post at the moment, but it's either Brian Gilman (definitely a family member, eh Ray?) or Ben Craig (of Bone Club and Stockcar Named Desire (both popular bands) fame (if I'm reading my info right though, Brian replaced Ben], a band which is said to be influenced by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Tool, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin among others...and which has opened shows for the likes of Eric Burdon, Corey Sevens, performed live on Minneapolis' Kare 11 Television, was featured on KSPN 9 program Buzz, and won the Garage Logic bumper band contest. For this rather personal album (it follows some recent family tragedies) Ray decided to play every instrument (guitars, bass, keyboards and drums) himself, as well as doin' all vocals and production. And the 10-track album probably doesn't venture far from Ray's usual Classic Rock influences. In spite of the family problems which influenced the music, he managed to give the album an overall positive and hopeful feeling, alternating sensitive ballads against more Hard Rock driven songs...and throughout the album, he succeeds in bringing tasteful guitar solos to songs which all have a perfect build-up. One exception: the instrumental “Lightnin' Boogie”, which is sheer guitarero extravaganza throughout! Regretfully, I haven't been able to find a website with music off this album. (www.) raygilman.com automatically re-directs the surfer to the band's (www.) myspace.com/raygilmanscrossing, where you wíll find audio for 6 songs nót on the album. I'm only guessing they're rather similar to what you might find on this album (sorry, but due to time shortage I wasn't able to check things while looking up the extra info, and at the time of writing the review I was nowhere near an Internet connection). 87/100 ---------------------------------------------------- This release has apparently been laying about our editor-in-chief's office in a forgotten corner for a while (in fact, he cannot even remember how long ago we might've received it...so herewith I'm apologizing on his behalf for this oversight. Things like that do nót happen a lot, but in this case the fact that the band sent its promo material in a map may have had something to do with it). In the middle of this decade, the Brooklyn (NY) based American Surefire signed to Lizard King Records, a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. When push came to shove, the major label wanted the band to change its musical direction, but main composer/ singer/ guitarist Ben Rice was unwilling to compromise the band's musical integrity (which drew heavily from influences from the golden era of Rock's history around the late '60s and early '70s, as played by the likes of T. Rex, Free, Humble Pie, (The Small) Faces, Bad Company, Rolling Stones, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, The Beatles...and reminiscent of more contemporary acts like Oasis, The Charlatans, and The Verve), so he left the label, the rest of the band, and taking along the bandname, struck out on his own. He then called on his friends Emiliano Ortiz (lead guitar), Seth Bulkin (bass) and Ben Spinrad (drums), and the new Surefire effortlessly came together. After having supported such recording artists as Arctic Monkey, Brendan Benson, The Bravery, The Subways, and Mando Diao, Sureway (alongside Coldplay, Radiohead and Bloc Party to name but a few) contributed their song “Surrender” to the 2006 compilation album Help A Day In The Life, organized by War Child (an organisation dedicated to help out suffering children in war ravaged countries), that same year in early October also supporting legendary Rock act America. Feeling confident in the material the band was recording at their own Newkirk Studio (by the way, in the meantime Bulkin had been replaced by Jacob Sloan, and it's him we hear on the album), Rice hunted down legendary producer Eddie Kramer (has the likes of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones on his cv), and sent him over a couple of mp3s in order to reel him in to participate in the recordings. Instantly liking what he heard, he invited the band over to Los Angeles to finish the recordings and mix the album. Leading up to the release party of the album in late June 2009 (their first New York gig in over a year), the band set out on a series of gigs for Relay For Life (an event organised by The American Cancer Society honoring those affected by the disease by further funding research). Stylistically, the album's music is firmly rooted in that feel-good Hard Rock of the era mentioned, and I've seen some comparisons floating around which kinda nail things to a tee: “The Who on a date with Oasis”, The (Small) Faces on an all-ite boozer with Mando Diao”...those descriptions certainly seem to fit a couple of the songs. Evidently, a band like this needs a couple of ballads as well, coming along in this case with the semi-acoustic (and embellished with Hammond and Wurlitzer organ courtesy of one Dave Sherman) “Sea Song” and album closer “By My Side”. Vocals are simply to die for, and definitely a bonus for a band like this (I can understand why a major label would pay to sign and then break up an existing band in order to ensure themselves the services of a signer like that to further their commercial needs...but quite frankly, why do those manager-type dudes think money will do the trick most of the time?), and that the combined result is simply of the type warranting additions to year-lists, is something you can assertain for yourself by listening to the 4 songs the band posted at myspace.com/surefireband. Oh well...and now for the sadder part of this review: most probably this band doesn't exist anymore! Granted, they've never been much for updating their blogs, so it might be the guys are being lazy. At any rate, the recording line-up is no longer existent, as the line-up mentioned at the MySpace page sees Rice surrounded by old acquaintance Seth Bulkin (bass) and new members Anthony Stella guitar & backing vocals) and Austin Schumacher (drums). Try as I might, I found no evidence of the band actually still being active today! 95/100 Tony. |
